The World shift hit like a whirlwind, tossing Alex's senses into chaos. When his mind cleared and his feet found solid ground, he stood in a lush, dense forest.
Glancing up, he saw the eastern sky glowing pale—dawn was breaking.
The travel had felt like a spin in a blender. Lily, cradled in his arms, stirred slowly, her eyes fluttering open. She scanned the forest, then fixed a puzzled look on Alex, clearly wondering why he'd carried her out of their cave.
Lily had been asleep during the shift, unaware she'd crossed worlds with Alex.
"It worked," Alex thought, nodding to himself.
His ability to copy others' powers was a secret, but traveling through film and anime worlds from before the apocalypse? That was his deepest truth, one he'd guard from everyone.
Having crossed twice before, Alex wasn't sure how time flowed in the real world during his travels. Lily was just a kid, and leaving her alone in the zombie-plagued forest wasn't an option.
Since she didn't know about world -shifting, bringing her along while she slept was the safest choice.
There was another reason, too. Alex wanted to test if he could bring someone from the real world across planes. Now, he had his answer—it was possible.
Did that mean he could bring characters from these worlds back to his own?
Though Alex was Awakened, his ability's finer details were a mystery, one he'd unravel slowly.
How much real-world time passed during each crossing? Was it consistent?
He'd felt the X-Men world and the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer had different stay lengths—what decided that?
Would skills like Dugu Nine Swords grow in capacity as he honed them?
"Help! Somebody, save me!"
A boy's exaggerated cries shattered Alex's thoughts, echoing through the quiet forest. The voice sounded young, maybe a kid.
Drawn to the noise, Alex moved toward it.
Lily trailed close, silent as always. Her speed-type Awakened ability made her movements swift and nimble, outpacing even Alex.
Soon, Alex spotted a boy, about eight or nine, sprinting wildly, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Behind him loomed a massive tiger, three meters tall, charging after the boy.
"What a monster!" Alex thought. A three-meter tiger—could it be an evolved beast?
He raised his crystal measuring device, a red beam scanning the beast. The result made him pause.
"Zero crystal points? Not an evolved beast—just huge?" Alex was surprised, but its size promised raw power.
He drew the White Dragon sword, sending it soaring toward the tiger. No beast, however big, could withstand its razor edge.
The sword returned, the tiger's head severed clean.
"Wow, uncle, you're awesome!" The boy, around ten, gaped at Alex, eyes sparkling with awe.
"What's your name? Why're you alone out here? Where are your parents?" Alex asked, studying the kid.
"Parents? What's that?" The boy scratched his head, his face pure and clueless, as if the concept was alien.
Alex's mouth twitched. He glanced at Lily, who hadn't spoken once, a strange thought rising.
Even if my life's a story author, why are you turning me into a babysitter?
But the boy grinned wide and declared, "Hey, mister, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the guy who's gonna be Pirate King! When I set sail, you gotta join my crew, okay?"
Alex froze.
That iconic line snapped everything into place. He knew exactly where he was and who this kid was.
"The One Piece world?" Alex muttered.
An anime world! Beyond movies like X-Men or novels like The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, he could cross into anime?
He eyed Luffy, eight or nine years old. In the story, Luffy was seventeen when he sailed.
So, this was eight or nine years before the main plot began.
"Luffy wants to be Pirate King, so he's met Shanks," Alex realized. "That means he's eaten the Devil Fruit, right?"
Acting casual, Alex reached out, ruffling Luffy's hair.
"Your name's Luffy, huh? What're you doing alone in this forest?"
As he spoke, keeping Luffy's attention, Alex's hand lingered.
Ding! Removable storage device detected.
He navigated to Luffy's C drive. Devil Fruit powers should be genetic, stored there, right?
But no Devil Fruit file appeared. Instead, another caught his eye.
Conqueror's Haki, 13G.
Alex inhaled sharply. At 13G, it dwarfed Magneto's gene file.
In One Piece, Haki manifests in three primary forms: Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki
Armament and Observation could be trained, likely D drive skills.
Conqueror's Haki, though, was innate, fitting perfectly in the C drive's genetic area.
"Hey, Luffy, how many times have I told you? You're born to be a mighty Marine!" A gruff, commanding voice boomed. "That red-haired punk's filled your head with nonsense. Time for my iron fist of love to set you straight!"
Luffy's face paled. "Grandpa… Grandpa…" he stammered, fear flashing as a figure stepped from the trees.
Step by step, Garp emerged from the dense forest, his eyes burning with fiery irritation, his massive fist clenched and raised, while Luffy's face contorted in sheer horror at the sight.
After delivering a harsh lesson with his Iron Fist of Love, pummeling Luffy so fiercely that he wailed in agony and his face swelled with dark bruises, Garp's piercing gaze shifted to settle on Alex.
Garp's training strategy for Luffy was brutally straightforward: as long as he didn't perish, he'd be pushed to the absolute limits of endurance.
However, despite his gruff exterior, he was still a devoted grandfather, and the bond between them ran profoundly deep. Although the training regimens that would certainly kill ordinary people posed no lethal threat to Luffy's resilience, Garp always lingered in the shadows, vigilantly ensuring his safety.
Naturally, Garp had also witnessed how Alex had boldly stepped forward and skillfully dispatched the tiger to rescue Luffy from danger.
"This is a young man with a compassionate heart," Garp thought to himself, his eyes resting on Alex as he silently formed a favorable impression in his mind.
Although Alex's actions had disrupted his carefully planned training for Luffy, Garp genuinely admired the willingness to extend a helping hand to someone in peril.
"Kid, who are you? Is this your daughter?" Garp inquired, directing his question at Alex while pointing at Lily standing beside him.
"What's that look in your eyes? Do I look like a 30-year-old man to you? I'm only in my early twenties. How could I possibly have a daughter this grown?" Garp's words caused Alex's expression to darken, and he responded with clear displeasure.
Luffy had persistently called him "uncle" earlier, and Alex had been too exasperated to bother correcting him, but this assumption was pushing it too far.
"Ah? Hahaha, you're right, my mistake!" Garp chuckled heartily after hearing Alex's retort, taking a closer look at Alex. Judging from his youthful appearance, it was indeed impossible for him to be a father to such a child.
"Well, the grandfather and grandson are both lacking in the same way; it must be a family trait," Alex mused, recalling Garp's impulsive nature from the One Piece story. Even though he had known about it from the original work, seeing it in person still left him feeling utterly powerless to comment further.
"Lily is a child I rescued about a month ago. She seems unable to speak, so I've been keeping her close by my side. She's like a sister to me," Alex nodded, providing a clear answer to Garp's question.
"So, he's the one who saved this child. He's truly a person with a strong sense of justice," Garp thought, his impression of Alex improving even further upon learning the story of Lily's rescue.
"By the way, I just observed that you can control your sword to soar through the air and strike down enemies. Are you a Devil Fruit user?" Garp asked again, his curiosity piqued by Alex's earlier display.
"Well, yes, something like that," Alex nodded in response to Garp's question.
These abilities tied to his genetic bloodline were too complex to explain, and in the context of Devil Fruit powers, they could indeed be described in a similar manner.
"Yes, it would be a terrible waste if such a young man with a powerful sense of justice doesn't join the Navy," Garp nodded, clearly satisfied with Alex for the moment, and spoke with a meaningful tone.
"Huh? He wants me to become a Marine?" Garp's words caught Alex off guard, causing him to pause in surprise.
Considering this possibility, Alex's mind began to race, rapidly weighing the advantages and disadvantages of such a path.